Weekly Pebble Report: No Foolin’ (March 28th – March 30th)

Colorado Rockies minor league report for Tuesday, April 1st, 2025

The 2025 minor league season is officially underway with Triple-A teams kicking off the season as their big league counterparts did the same. As the Colorado Rockies prepare for their home opener this week, all of their minor league affiliates are doing the same. The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes have their home opener tonight while the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, High-A Spokane Indians, and Low-A Fresno Grizzlies all kick things off—just like the Rockies—on Friday. The rosters are set, the fields are ready. Let’s play some minor league baseball!

Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (1-2, 1-2 Overall) (2024 Record: 58-92)

The Isotopes kicked off their season over the weekend against the Sacramento River Cats (San Francisco Giants) at the updated Sutter Health Park. The offense largely failed to get off the ground over three games but they came away with a win on the final game of the series to avoid the sweep.

The Isotopes will kick off their first six game set tonight against the Salt Lake Bees (Los Angeles Angels).

The Roster: Headlined by Chase Dollander (no. 1 PuRP), the Isotopes have the highest number of our PuRPs prospects to start the 2025 season with nine. This includes three of our top five with Adael Amador (no. 3 PuRP) and Zac Veen (no. 4 PuRP) as Opening Day starters. Yanquiel Fernández (no. 7 PuRP) and Sterlin Thompson (no. 15 PuRP) will join Veen in the outfield, while Ryan Ritter (no. 17 PuRP) will join Amador in the middle infield.

The Isotopes pitching staff should be much improved this year with the addition of Dollander, lefty Carson Palmquist (no. 9 PuRP), Jaden Hill (no. 19 PuRP) and Zach Agnos (no. 23 PuRP).

Notably absent from the roster is Drew Romo, who was optioned prior to the start of the season. Romo injured his hand in a minor league camp game and will start the season on the 7-day injured list.

Joining Romo on the injured list to start the season is left-handed pitcher Antoine Kelly, right-handed pitcher Diego Castillo, and fellow catcher Daniel Cope.

The Dollander touches down in Triple-A: Top pitching prospect Chase Dollander made his Triple-A debut with the Isotopes on Sunday afternoon. He was somewhat inefficient during his start, making it through just four innings while throwing 79 pitches. However, he kept damage to a minimum by giving up just one earned run on six hits—a lot of contact—and two walks. He also demonstrated that his strikeout ability will play in the hitter friendly PCL, fanning five batters.

He’s on a Rolison: Left-handed former first round pick Ryan Rolison kept his strong spring rolling after multiple appearances with the big league squad in spring training. Rolison came out of the bullpen for two innings in relief of Tanner Gordon on Saturday and did everything he could to keep the Isotopes in—what was at the time—a close ballgame. Rolison spun two shutout innings without allowing a hit or giving up a walk and struck out three batters. Here’s hoping he can leverage continued strong outings into his long awaited big league debut this season.

The Zac Attack is Back, Jack: While the Isotopes offense has largely struggled out of the gate, the same cannot be said for Zac Veen. Reassigned to Albuquerque to start the season—much to the consternation of some fans—Veen has hit the ground running. Veen went 4-for-11 with two doubles and a walk during the opening series and struck out just two times.

Zach in Action: Closer Zach Agnos was assigned to the Isotopes to start the season after a standout performance in spring training. He made his Triple-A debut on Sunday with a narrow 2-1 lead over the River Cats and slammed the door in style. Agnos set down the side in order with two strikeouts on just 12 pitches to earn his first Triple-A save and secure victory for the Isotopes.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (2024 Record: 76-60)

The Yard Goats will start their season at home with a three game series against the Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees). They’ll be looking for a little revenge against the team that prematurely ended their first ever playoff run in 2024.

The Roster: The Yard Goats will start their season with six top prospects on their roster. Gabriel Hughes (no. 11 PuRP) will headline the rotation fresh off of an excellent spring training as he continues to rebound from Tommy John surgery. Right-handed pitcher Jack Mahoney (no. 24 PuRP) will also join him in the rotation.

The position players have three new arrivals fresh from the 2024 Northwest League champion Spokane Indians in MVP Kyle Karros (no. 12 PuRP), exciting center fielder Cole Carrigg (no. 10 PuRP), and middle infielder Dyan Jorge (no. 21 PuRP). Outfielder Benny Montgomery (no. 16 PuRP) is back in Hartford for a repeat assignment after an injury and subsequent surgery robbed him of most of the 2024 campaign.

Right-handed pitchers Adam McKillican (full season) and Chris McMahon (60-day) are both on the injured list.

High-A: Spokane Indians (2024 Record: 79-51, Northwest League champions)

Your 2024 Northwest League champion Spokane Indians start the quest for a repeat on Friday with a three game series against the Everett Aqua Sox (Seattle Mariners) at Avista Stadium.

The Roster: As if often the case with minor league teams, the Indians lost a significant number of their key players to promotions. Most notably, Kyle Karros and Cole Carrigg have moved up to Double-A. However, there is still a lot of interesting talent on this team with four top prospects.

Right-handed pitcher Michael Prosecky (no. 25 PuRP) is back with the Indians after a mid-season promotion from Fresno last year. He is joined in the rotation by Jordy Vargas (no. 13 PuRP), who is looking to rebound from Tommy John surgery after missing the 2024 season.

2024 draft picks in catcher Cole Messina (no. 27 PuRP) and outfielder Jared Thomas (no. 14 PuRP) will start the season in Spokane as well. Messina was with the Indians at the end of last season while Thomas was with the Fresno Grizzlies. Thomas saw somewhat limited playing time in Fresno as he battled a quadriceps injury in which the muscle had been torn from the bone. Now fully healthy, he looks to cement himself as a key Rockies prospect.

Right-handed pitcher Yujanyer Herrera (no. 29 PuRP) will begin the season on the 60-day injured list.

Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (2024 Record: 67-64)

The Grizzlies missed the playoffs last season despite an overall winning record, but will look to fix that in 2025. Their season will start on Friday against the Stockton Ports (Sacramento Athletics) at Chukchansi Park in Fresno.

The Roster: The Grizzlies will be a fun team to watch despite having just three of our top prospects on the roster to start the season. The star of the show will be 2024 Arizona Complex League MVP outfielder Robert Calaz (no. 5 PuRP) on repeat assignment after injuries ended his season early last year. I don’t expect him to stay in Fresno for long.

After making his first professional appearance for the Rockies in this year’s Spring Breakout prospect showcase, right-handed reliever Brody Brecht (no. 6 PuRP) will enjoy his first true assignment in the Rockies farm system. He will be joined on the pitching staff by right-handed starter Jackson Cox (no. 26 PuRP), who missed last season due to Tommy John surgery.

The injury bug bit the Grizzlies hard over the offseason. Right-handed pitcher Jace Kaminska and left-handed pitchers Austin Emener and Luichi Casilla (no. 30 PuRP) will all start the season on the 60-day injured list. 2023 draft pick and left-handed pitcher Kannon Handy has voluntarily retired from baseball.

Reserve and Awaiting Assignment

I would like to shout out Purple Row commenter Sage Rylee Farron for providing this list. The following players are starting the year on reserve lists either awaiting assignment or an injury list designation. Some may also be released.

• RHP Tyler Burch
• RHP Jarrod Cande
• RHP Brendan Hardy
• RHP Bryan Perez
• RHP Carlos Torres
• RHP Connor Van Scoyoc
• RHP Case Williams
• LHP Bryson Hammer
• LHP Sean Sullivan (no. 8 PuRP)
• IF Luis Mendez
• OF Charlie Condon (no. 2 PuRP)

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